TRACK AND FIELD

TRACK AND FIELD; Starting From Scratch At the Millrose Games

By MARC BLOOM

Published: January 31, 2001

When Bob Kennedy steps onto the Madison Square Garden track Friday night for the 3,000-meter run at the Millrose Games, it will be the first race of the rest of his life.

Kennedy, America's leading distance runner for a decade, has not competed since July 21 when he finished sixth at 5,000 meters in the Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif. Missing a berth on the United States team for the Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, Kennedy left the stadium with eyes moist and in his wife's embrace. Later, he could not bear to watch the Olympics on television in September.

''I didn't want to feel angrier than I already was,'' he said this past week.

Two months before the trials, Kennedy, who lives in Bloomington, Ind., was waiting at a stop light when another motorist plowed into his Ford Explorer from behind. Kennedy sustained bruised and swollen vertebrae. Sidelined for weeks, he still tried to make his third Olympic team, courageously leading the 5,000 trial until his battered body gave way.

Under his doctor's orders, Kennedy, the United States record-holder in both the 3,000 and 5,000 -- and the only American to challenge African supremacy in distance running -- took another seven weeks off this past summer. It was the first break in Kennedy's career, which had progressed from four national collegiate titles at Indiana University to 15 No. 1 United States rankings and a best time of 12 minutes 58.21 seconds in the 5,000.

The hiatus gave Kennedy, 30, time to reflect.

''I feel like I'm starting from scratch, and that I've again found my passion for running,'' he said this past week. ''I'm excited and nervous about getting back on the track. It's my first Millrose Games in six years.''

Kennedy rarely runs indoors. During recent winters, he has trained in Australia to take advantage of the warmth of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

But this season Kennedy needs the competition, and at the Millrose Games he is scheduled to face Kenya's Paul Bitok, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 who will try to defend his 3,000-meter title at the Garden. After the Millrose Games, Kennedy will run in the USA national cross-country 12,000-meter (7.4-mile) championship, on Feb. 18, in Vancouver, Wash. He won that title in 1992 and 1994.

Those victories belong to the old Kennedy, who pushed himself relentlessly. The new Kennedy, post-accident, came back patiently this past fall, rebuilding his fitness with six weeks of easy running. Then, he accelerated his training but still kept the pace modest. His weekly mileage did not reach 100 -- 106 to be exact -- until two weeks ago.

''I took no shortcuts,'' he said.

To sharpen up for his comeback, Kennedy trained recently in Gainesville, Fla. Included in his workouts were repeat 200-meter runs for speed and 1,000's for strength with Pascal Dobert, a frequent training partner and United States Olympian in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Dobert will also run in the Millrose 3,000.

When Kennedy made a big leap to Olympic medal contention in the mid-1990's, it came after he began training with a group of Kenyans in the London suburbs under the supervision of his coach and manager, Kim McDonald.

In effect, Kennedy became one of them. He has been much admired by his peers as an ''honorary Kenyan,'' and his running proves it. Passing up prize money in road racing, Kennedy stuck to the events on the track. In meet after meet on the Grand Prix circuit in Europe, it was Kennedy alongside Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans driving hard for the finish.

At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Kennedy made the boldest move of his career, taking the lead with two laps to go in the 5,000 final. If Kennedy has a weakness, it is pure speed. He could not match the kicks of his rivals and wound up sixth.

Kennedy was proud. ''I felt I ran the race to be as good as I could on that day,'' he said. ''That's all I've ever asked of myself. I still hope that will lead to a championship medal.''

To that end, Kennedy is switching his focus to the 10,000 meters, which he planned to do last year before the accident. He thinks he has done all he can in the 5,000. ''I want to break records on the track again,'' Kennedy said.

The American record in the 10,000, 27:20.56 by Mark Nenow in 1986, is soft. The world record, 26:22.75, by the Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, is almost a minute faster. Kennedy hopes to break 27 minutes and compete for a medal at this summer's world track and field championships in Edmonton, Alberta.

At 25 laps, the 10,000 requires a more deliberate approach than the 5,000 and is a metaphor for the second stage of Kennedy's career. Many distance runners peak in their mid-30's and Kennedy is in no hurry. He is happy simply being back and expects to surprise a few people.

''After the Olympic trials,'' Kennedy said, ''I was probably written off by some competitors who felt, 'He's done a lot of great things, but he's finished now.' ''

The Millrose 3,000 offers Kennedy a taste of the 10,000 in terms of laps. The Garden track is 11 laps to a mile, and runners in the 3,000 circle the track 21 times. At 6 feet, Kennedy is bigger than most distance runners and the tight board surface does not work in his favor. In his last Millrose 3,000, in 1995, he placed fifth.

More than anything, after 194 days without a race, Kennedy said, he wants to feel the ''core of racing again.'' He meant the fast pace under foot, the breath of competition on his neck, the searing stress in his gut.

''Racing hurts,'' Kennedy said. ''You better accept that from the beginning or you're not going anywhere.''

Photo: Bob Kennedy, foreground, was sixth at 5,000 meters this past July at the U.S. Olympic trials. He did not win a spot on the American team. (Associated Press)